Trial reportPublic health nutrition2021
Assessing the challenges to women's access and implementation of text messages for nutrition behaviour change in rural Tanzania.
Trial report in Public health nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding Drivers of Sustained Engagement in SMS-Based Nutrition Programmes: A Realist Evaluation With an Equity Lens in Tanzania.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Factors affecting women's nutritional security in rural Bangladesh: The role of livestock and other socioeconomic characteristics.PloS one · 2025Article
- Digital Health Technologies for Maternal and Child Health in Africa and Other Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Cross-disciplinary Scoping Review With Stakeholder Consultation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis process evaluation aimed to understand factors affecting the implementation of a government-sponsored short message service (SMS) programme for delivering nutrition information to rural populations, including message access, acceptability and putting messages into action.
designThe study was nested within a larger randomised controlled trial. Cross-sectional data collection included structured surveys and in-depth interviews. Data were analysed for key trends and themes using Stata and ATLAS.ti software.
settingThe study took place in Tanzania's Mtwara region.
participantsSurveys were conducted with 205 women and 93 men already enrolled in the randomised controlled trial. A sub-set of 30 women and 14 men participated in the in-depth interviews.
resultsAmong women relying on a spouse's phone, sharing arrangements impeded regular SMS access; men were commonly away from home, forgot to share SMS or did not share them in women's preferred way. Phone-owning women faced challenges related to charging their phones and defective handsets. Once SMS were delivered, most participants viewed them as trustworthy and comprehensible. However, economic conditions limited the feasibility of applying certain recommendations, such as feeding meat to toddlers. A sub-set of participants concurrently enrolled in an interpersonal counselling (IPC) intervention indicated that the SMS provided reminders of lessons learned during the IPC; yet, the SMS did not help participants contextualise information and overcome the challenges of putting that information into practice.
conclusionsThe challenges to accessing and implementing SMS services highlighted here suggest that such platforms may work well as one component of a comprehensive nutrition intervention, yet not as an isolated effort.
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